By Louis Theiss
Special to the Turnagain Times
It has been six or seven years since the Girdwood School PTA requested the Anchorage School District to prioritize the renewal of Girdwood School on their district wide Capital Improvement Project List. This request was accompanied by a resolution of support from the Girdwood Board of Supervisors.
With woefully undersized primary classrooms, a small and aging gymnasium, lack of infrastructure for integrated technology, no junior high science lab or breakout area, limited community access due to high demand and lack of capacity, and not enough space for ancillary services: bilingual tutoring, psychologist, junior high electives, or the gifted program, it’s long past time to get a 21st century update to our Girdwood K-8 School.
Additionally, some members of the community asked the district to address a solution for high school students that choose not to commute to South Anchorage.
With 94 schools in the district, the school renewal queue has been long. Many district schools were built for baby boomers and their subsequent children, and are also in need. These schools went up quickly and the model used was for a pre-information age economy, when 80% of jobs were hands-on and only 20% were based in information and services. Today, the equation is reversed: school facilities and the delivery of instruction are changing to meet the needs of our 21st century students.
On April 7, Girdwood School will be part of Proposition 1 on the Municipal ballot. This proposition request $680,000 to finish the design work for the school renewal, and if all goes well, Girdwood School will be on the 2010 ballot for renewal construction money. Most of the $69.8 million in Proposition 1 is for the completion of Service High School.
Proposition 2 is $27.4 million for District wide building system renewal. These are expensive projects like roofs, traffic safety upgrades, electrical and sprinkler systems. They are bonded because they are designed to last at least 20 years and extend the useful life of the facility. The value of these type of bonds is apparent because they help prevent deterioration by neglect. Please consider backing this one too!
These bonds are endorsed by many; state legislators, assembly members, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce and the public employee unions. Updated K-12 educational facilities are an economic driver and an important component of balanced growth.
The state will reimburse property tax payers 60-70% of the cost of these bonds. That means the state will pay $41.9 million of $69.8 million included in Proposition I, and $19.1 million of Proposition 2. Combined, the cost per $100,000 of assessed value will be $10.63 a year.
School bonds are a long term investment yielding the formation of human capital and local economic success. While voters seem to experience sticker shock every year, I see a long term, well-managed process of investment. The capital carrying costs of our $1.7 billion District owned facilities expressed as a percentage of the operating budget has always been between 10-13%: a humble figure.
Please vote for Propositions 1 & 2 on April 7. Teachers need to work in schools that allow them to provide students with the best educational program possible, and children need spaces where they want to come to learn 7 hours a day for 12 years, places that support multiple learning styles and have a view to the future.
Louis Theiss is the treasurer of schoolbondsyes.org. He has lived in Girdwood for over 30 years. He also sits on the Capital Request Advisory Committee and is an Anchorage School District volunteer.